Justice Department releases affidavit that led to FBI raid of Trump's Mar-a-Lago

The Justice Department on Friday released the heavily redacted  – or blacked out – affidavit that successfully argued why the FBI needed to conduct a raid on former President Trump's Florida estate to remove government documents they believed to be top-secret or classified, according to reports. 

Daily Mail and ABC News have reported that the affidavit has been released.

According to the Daily Mail, U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart wrote in the order, "I find that the government has met its burden of showing a compelling reason/good cause to seal portions of the affidavit," and added that the redacted portions were needed for protecting witnesses, agents, and parties who were not charged, in addition to the strategy and scope of the probe.

The department blacked out the names of witnesses and agents to protect them and the agency's investigation, but the document, which allowed for the warrant in the unprecedented Aug. 8 raid at Mar-a-Lago, is expected to provide at least some new details.

In acknowledging the extraordinary public interest in the investigation, Reinhart on Thursday ordered the department by Friday to make public a redacted version of the affidavit, according to the Associated Press.

The judge's directive came hours after federal law enforcement officials submitted under seal the portions of the affidavit that they want to keep secret as their investigation moves forward, the wire service also reports.

Last week, Reinhart ordered the department to make the redactions and said he would make revisions if unsatisfied with federal lawyers' efforts.

Trump posted on his Truth Social account on Friday morning, criticizing the raid on his home prior to the affidavit release.

"The political Hacks and Thugs had no right under the Presidential Records Act to storm Mar-a-Lago and steal everything in sight, including Passports and privileged documents," Trump wrote. "They even broke into my safe with a safecracker - Can you believe? This Act was created for a very good reason, and it works. We are right now living in a Lawless Country, that just so happens to be, also, a Failing Nation!"